1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable barbecue devices, and more particularly pertains to an automatically operated rotating spit mechanism for a barbecue device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Barbecue stands which include a rotating spit or rotisserie driven by an electric motor are well known in the prior art. A good example of such a prior art motor driven rotisserie is to be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,104,605 which issued to C. McKinney on Sept. 24, 1963. This patent is illustrative of a far larger number of patents which have issued and which are directed to the use of motor driven rotisseries in combination with barbecue stands. While being functional for their intended purpose, all of these prior art devices have the distinctive disadvantage of requiring a convenient electric outlet to operate the associated motor which rotates the spit. As such, these prior art barbecue devices cannot be used on camping trips, beach outings, and the like where electric power is not readily available.
However, there has been a recognition of this problem as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,059,568 which issued to J. Fortis on Oct. 23, 1962. The patent to Fortis discloses a rotisserie which is designed for use at picnics or other outings without requiring an external source of electrical power since the invention is designed to be used by either a spring-driven or battery-driven motor. While the basic concept of using a battery-driven motor to facilitate the rotation of a rotisserie is known in the art, it will be noted that the Fortis device is substantially complex in design and requires the manufacture of a large number of different metallic interfitting parts. Due to the complex design of this device, little or no apparent commercial success has been achieved--most likely due to the apparent expense and complexity of manufacture.
As such, there appears to be a need for new and improved portable rotisserie devices which could use battery-driven motors and which could be inexpensively and easily manufactured to improve their chances of commercial acceptability. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.